NIKHIL BANERJEE - RAGA MANJ KHAMAJ (cassette)

from Stimulus Progression

Nikhil Ranjan Banerjee was an eminent sitarist of the Maihar Gharana. A student of the legendary Baba Allauddin Khan, Pandit Nikhil Banerjee was known for his technical virtuosity and clinical execution. Nikhil Banerjee was born on October 14, 1931 in Calcutta. He suffered his first heart attack in 1977 or 78 and had heart trouble until he died in 1986.

At the end of 1975, the organization that had been bringing Banerjee to the US, the Center for World Music, more or less ceased to operate. A group of his devoted students incorporated as a not-for-profit (Musical Traditions, Inc.) and raised the funds to bring him for a summer teaching program, a series of concerts in Berkeley and then a national tour. There were many recordings from this trip to the US, including some with the amazing tabla player Zakir Hussain along with Jack Dejohnette. However, when the organization went into a hiatus in the late 70's, one of the officers donated all of the recordings to the University of Washington Ethnomusicology archive, where they lay unattainable.

RAGA MANJ KHAMAJ was recorded live in concert, August 1978 and this cassette is the only place to hear this landmark recording by a revered legend of Indian Classical Music.

VERY LIMITED QUANTITY!

NIKHIL BANERJEE: Sitar with ANINDO CHATTERJEE: Tabla

Track Listing (presented in two parts over two sides):

Short alap; gats in rupak (7 beat cycle), dipchandi (14 beat cycle), and tintal (16 beat cycle)

Originally Released by Musical Traditions, Berkeley, 1979. From the archive of Paul Dresher.